Zaboo & Codex - Color

As promised, here's the final version of the pinup that appeared in last week's "The Guild: Bladezz" one-shot. You can still head out to your LCS to check it out - along with, of course, the actual comic. ;)

As mentioned in my last entry on thisI had the idea of Zaboo thinking about the idealized game him along with the idealized Codex, I tried to do my typical comic book likeness of actor Sandeep Parikh. However, for the idealized versions, I went with a much looser, cartoony take on both Sandeep and Felicia Day. I spent much less time trying to nail an dead-on accurate likeness on Felicia than when I did the "Red" piece (see here), and I think Codex looks pretty sharp for it - and still has a touch of Felicia in her face.

For the Frank Frazetta fans out there, the layout of the piece is loosely based on the "Fire & Ice" painting/movie poster. I give Frazetta an "after Frazetta" credit on the final piece, as is expected and deserved, so worry not, those who think I'm trying to Granito (well, I actually drew 100% of this).

This pinup also marked the last time I did a drawing 100% in Photoshop CS2. From the next day on, I all my digital inking and digital drawings were done in Manga Studio EX 4.

And since the posting of the black and white piece, I got a fun and funny compliment from Sandeep Parikh, the actor who plays Zaboo. In reply on Twitter, he said "Thanks for drawing my face!"

I thanked him for having a face, as without a face, his likeness would be harder to capture -- or maybe much easier. I dunno.

SCREENCAP002.JPG

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Zaboo & Codex - B&W

Yesterday was the debut of THE GUILD: BLADEZZ one-shot from Dark Horse Comics.

If you picked up the issue (and you should), in the back is the pinup above - but in full color.

You can read about how this came to be here --> [CLICKY]

A few notes about this piece; As I had the idea of Zaboo thinking about the idealized game him along with the idealized Codex, I tried to do my typical comic book likeness of actor Sandeep Parikh. However, for the idealized versions, I went with a much looser, cartoony take on both Sandeep and Felicia Day. I spent much less time trying to nail an dead-on accurate likeness on Felicia than when I did the "Red" piece (see here), and I think Codex looks pretty sharp for it - and still has a touch of Felicia in her face.

For the Frank Frazetta fans out there, the layout of the piece is loosely based on the "Fire & Ice" painting/movie poster. I give Frazetta an "after Frazetta" credit on the final piece, as is expected and deserved, so worry not, those who think I'm trying to Granito (well, I actually drew 100% of this).

This pinup also marked the last time I did a drawing 100% in Photoshop CS2. From the next day on, I all my digital inking and digital drawings were done in Manga Studio EX 4.

For now I'm showing off the black and white lines to the piece. Next week at about this time I'll show y'all the final color piece. For now, if you want to see this piece of Guildness, you'll have to pick up the comic.

Commission Sale!

In celebration (?) of finishing my Doctor Who Annual pages for IDW, and for getting a few more commissions out the door, I'm now accepting a total of two (2) more commissions.

And, to entice y'all, I've dropped the prices of my commissions 5% to 11% (odd amounts... just how the math worked out). Those prices include shipping - and if you ask for digital delivery, the normal discount still applies. You could get up to 16% off your commission!

For examples, check out the blog, or check out the oneGemini Studios Gallery (paying close attention to the "Pinups" category). The link to the gallery is here --> [CLICKY]

And the link to the sale itself is here --> [CLICKY]

If you want in on this sale, email me at info [at] oneGemini.com! Sale is over when I get the first two verified and paid buyers.

Cheers!

Update: Here are some samples.

Black and white lines;



Black and white lines with grays;



Full color;



Thanks for looking!

Another Doctor. Another Captain.

So above is the final of the commission I had been finishing up the past few days (the pencils were completed before my work on the Doctor Who Annual began). I showed some work in progress from this image in my previous blog post.

The commissioner did ask for one edit - I had left out the glasses they wanted on the Doctor. I fixed that, but kept a version without glasses for myself to display.

As for the story behind this - I'm not sure. I believe it has something to do with an RP the commissioner and a friend participate in, and these are representation of their characters (in their form of a different-than-shown-on-screen Metacrisis Tenth Doctor and Captain John Hart as seen on Torchwood).

Yes, they asked for the gun, so you can stop complaining about that. As long as commission requests don't violate my rules (no blatant porn, race or or sexual-orientation hatred, etc), then I'll draw it.

Not my first Tenth Doctor (or even Metacrisis Doctor), but my first Captain John, and I'm pretty happy with how every one turned out.

Want a commission like this for your very own? Stay tuned - details on how to go about getting on will be posted in a bit.

Cheers!

An Odd Pair

A couple of shots from a commission in progress (from the SAME commission);

...bad guys had better run. The Doctor's got a gun."



But it's okay. Captain John Hart approves.

Paul Hanley's "Verve"

A recent commission for the über-talented Paul Hanley of one the featured characters from his webcomic "Superstoked."

For more of Verve and the adventures of Paul's other characters, please, please, PLEASE, check out his work here --> [CLICKY].

Paul will eventually color this himself, and I'd imagine post that up on his dA account. I'll link when that time comes.

He also does some sweet Doctor Who work as well. I mention that cos, y'know, some of you guys are into that thing. And don't forget to check out his Godzilla stuff too. He's a pro at that now. Seriously. IDW pays him to draw the big guy.

If you have an original character from a comic or whatnot that you're itching to see realized in 2D (be it black and white, grays, or full color), contact me, and we can work it out (FYI - I have an agreement with Paul that he can use this image in any way he sees fit, but most of the time, without special agreement, the pieces I produce are NOT for publication, ie, you can't use it as a pinup in your comic or similar publication for profit. Just a heads up for ya).

Cheers!

The Guild from Dark Horse!

So, last year, I made contact with Scott Allie (Google him - editor, writer - a versatile guy with a lot of books under his belt in many different ways). He happens to be the one of the biggest editors (not physically) at Dark Horse (if not the biggest - I don't keep specific stats).

I've been emailing back and forth with him, and one thing that came up was the opportunity to do a pinup for The Guild comic book series. Right now, The Guild is a series of one-shots focusing on characters from webseries.

I chose Zaboo. In an homage to Frank Frazetta's "Fire & Ice" (painting/movie poster), I drew Zaboo and Codex being attacked by... well... you're just going to have to see it.

But where? Well, I was just told today that it's going to be in the Bladezz one-shot, which actually comes out June 22, 2011. Here's more info.

So, g'wan, head out there, pick that up, and see how I'm slowly trying to involve myself in every corner of geekdom I can touch with my comic book work!

Doctor Who: Around the Next Corner

NOTE: This is NOT official art from IDW's Doctor Who 2011 Annual.

So I am once again done with a Doctor Who project. Many thanks to editor Denton Tipton for bringing be aboard again, and thanks to writer Joshua Hale Fialkov for penning a VERY fun script.

I'm REALLY excited to have you readers out there see this story, as I'm proud of not only my linework on this project, but the colors as well (as this is the first mainstream title where I've colored my own work).

I can't show you anything more from that project (save for the very non-spoilery snippets I already have posted). You'll have to wait until official previews start popping up around August.

With that in mind, the piece above. Not a panel or image from the story, but done in the same line and color style.

And if you missed the details the first time;

Doctor Who Annual 2011
Writers - Joshua Hale Fialkov, Dan McDaid, Matthew Dow Smith, Tony Lee
Artists - Blair Shedd, McDaid, Josh Adams (Actually, it's Mitch Gerads), Ben Templesmith
Cover - Blair Shedd

The Eleventh Doctor materializes in his first Annual! This oversized issue contains three complete stories by an all-star lineup, featuring critically acclaimed Echoes writer Joshua Hale Fialkov and artist Blair Shedd, Doctor Who Magazine writer/artist Dan McDaid (Jersey Gods), and writer Matthew Dow Smith (artist on Doctor Who Ongoing, Witchblade, writer of Night Folk) and artist Josh Adams (like I mentioned, this is a mistake - it's actually artist Mitch Gerads - POPGUNPULP Comics, BOOM! Studios). Also included is a prelude to the next ongoing series story by series writer Tony Lee (Doctor Who Ongoing, The Gloom), and superstar artist Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), continued in Doctor Who #9!

48 Pages - $7.99 - August, 2011

Most likely will be available same-day digital as well, so you can pick it up on your iDevice or on the Comixology website.

What's up next for me? I'll be working on some commissions that were put on hold due to Doctor Who, and taking on a couple more when those go out the door.

As I've hinted on Twitter, I'll also put forward a creator-owned project that I'd really appreciate Kickstarter support in making happen. More info when that's ready to go.

As for the good Doctor -- GERONIMO! See you in August.

Weekend Wayback: Tales of the Jedi '95

Here's what I've been meaning to post, but didn't have a chance due to uncooperative scanner drivers.

The other day on Facebook I friended high school friend Jason Chin --> CLICK <-- then, an illustrator, now, illustrator and writer. It got me thinking on the image above.

Over the course of 1995, Jason and I put this fancomic together not only cos we were Star Wars geeks (he introduced me to Dark Forces), but this became our final project in one art class or another (I honestly can't recall which). I'm sure we did well on it.

Jason and I basically wrote and drew our own stories, based on Yavin (from Star Wars lore - no, not the moon, but the base planet, which, I know, is a gas giant - but we didn't know that at the time). We then combined them into alternating narratives, with Jason writing and drawing a little coda that tied it all together. It ended on a cliffhanger, and while Jason wrote and drew a few pages of the followup (and I wrote a script for my part) it never got much further than this one issue.

We printed up a few copies (at first hand-binding, later, Jason's mother getting them report-bound), selling them to friends (I believe just for the cost of printing), and generally enjoying it. Of course, this comic wasn't sponsored by Dark Horse. I put that on the cover (along with my own made-up Nightmare Press) to make it seem like the Dark Horse Star Wars comics at the time. I wouldn't end up working with Dark Horse for real until 2011 (on what? That'd be telling...).

Funny/sad story: believe it or not, between 1999 and 2002, a guy with a small bookstore just north of me got a hold of a copy and was trying to sell it on the internet for $40+, with a description entailing "from two upcoming comic book artists" and "they'll be bigger than famous comic artist Stan Lee" (Stan is a WRITER). I contacted the guy to take it down (it's illegal to sell something like this for such profit - especially when it's high school student's HOMEWORK). He did for a time, but then posted it a few years later. I emailed him again, threatening legal action, mostly to protect myself from anyone mistaking me charging for a fan work. I think he finally took the hint.

The funny/sad part was at the time he was trying to sell the comic, I wasn't even trying at being a comic book artist. I had basically given that up. I was doing some graphic design, but mostly was pursuing writing.

On the cover itself, this image is 90% drawn by Jason. He drew his two characters, the guy in the extreme foreground, and the blonde gal, and Jason also drew 90% of my character, the Dark Jedi (who I'm not sure if I ever named). Jason left the face, hands, and lightsaber blank, for me to draw in. I did, but tried to draw them like Jason, which didn't quite work out. I colored the thing with Prismacolor markers.

The interior of the comic was black and white.

It was an early foray into comic making, and certainly not the pinacle of either of our illustration careers, but I still remember the production of this fondly.

Oh, and my character wielded a double-bladed lightsaber, a la Darth Maul, four years before the release of Episode I (and before I found that a similar character in the Dark Horse Star Wars comics had done the same). Take that, posterity!

Next time on the Wayback - one of the interior pages from my part of the book, during my MOAR LINES phase.